


peace

by daisylincs



Series: Staticquake Advent [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Advent Event, F/M, Relationship Introspective, Relationship Study, Staticquake Advent, Theme: Peace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27912820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisylincs/pseuds/daisylincs
Summary: I could never give youpeace-but I'm a fire, and I'll keep your brittle heart warm.
Relationships: Lincoln Campbell/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Series: Staticquake Advent [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2034538
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	peace

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyy, guys, and it's with quite a lot of pride that I present to you this fic - because it marks something of a milestone of mine; namely, my _forty-second fic._ I just need to highlight for a second how _insane_ this is - I only joined AO3 officially in _May,_ in the middle of hard lockdown, and I've already garnered a total word count of _160k_ on the Archive. And this from someone who once thought I'd never write another creative piece after passing my A Levels!! I cannot get over the _craziness_ of this all, you guys. 2020 has really done a number on me! 
> 
> And, yes, I know it would be a little more traditional to celebrate this with, say, my _fiftieth_ fic instead of my 42nd - but anyone who knows me even slightly will know I _love_ making references. So, dork that I am, my 42nd fic had to be the very special one… and my poor giftee for the AoS Secret Santa had to wait until I finished this so I could post his gift as my forty- _third._ *winces slightly* I'm… sorry?? But also _not,_ because my fic in honour of life, the universe and everything needs to be something personally wonderful to _me._
> 
> Hence, this - a combination of my OTP and _peace_ by Taylor Swift. It's fairly short, but, yeah, more than fairly special, I do think. 💜 Hope you guys like it too!!!

Daisy Johnson was a lot of things. _Peaceful_ was not one of them. 

Ever since she was very young, she had left a trail of death and destruction wherever she went - and this was all _before_ she discovered her powers that could quite _literally_ destroy everything around her. 

For Daisy 飞鸿 Johnson, it was her parents and her village, and even the SHIELD team who came to extract her - she alone survived, sleeping in the arms of the dead Agent Avery with a smear of blood on her forehead. 

For Mary Sue Poots, it was every foster family she was ever a part of - whether it was by bad luck or deliberately arranged by SHIELD, she always ended up with the unstable families at the brink of a divorce, and by the time she left, their households were in smoking ruins. 

For Skye, it was the sites and codes she tore through in a desperate hunt for her parents - already having learned that nobody would stay for her no matter how much she _craved_ it, no matter how much she hoped that this time would be different. 

It never was. Because, simply, nobody wanted to care about someone who would inevitably destroy them. Nobody wanted the promise that they would never be able to have any peace as long as she was there. 

That was practically proved for her when, just as she was daring to think that things might _actually_ turn out to be good, Ward, the guy she had just gotten close to, betrayed them all. 

Her new team. Her almost-family. In _shreds._

And, no, it hadn't been her fault. But she had been there - in the epicenter, as always. 

It was just proof twice over that she should never, _never_ try to get close to anyone, guy or girl - because SHIELD, this family, was already walking on _such_ thin ice that she simply couldn't risk it. She couldn't tear this apart, too. 

But then she met Lincoln Campbell. 

He was, for lack of a better word, _different._ Completely different. He never expected peace from her - never even imagined that that's what he'd get. 

Because, above all, he was _like her_ \- he _got_ it. He got what it was like to go through life with scorch-marks in the footnotes of her story unfolding behind her. He _also_ got how, even if she _hadn't_ had the worst luck in the entire world, she still wouldn't have been able to settle down. 

She needed to help people, needed a purpose - needed to feel like she _belonged_ somewhere, like what she was doing really _meant_ something. Like she was making a _difference,_ a real difference, no matter how different she herself was. 

And for the first time in any relationship, she didn't have to try to hide - or fail to explain - any of it. 

He just _understood._ He was like her, after all. Exactly like her. 

So for the first time in a relationship, she could just be _herself,_ completely and utterly. 

She had never felt… _freer._

And that freedom gave her the chance, and the _willingness,_ to pour everything she had into the relationship. She could understand him better than anyone else if she wanted to; and she _wanted_ to. She could tell in a heartbeat when he needed comfort, and know _how_ to comfort him. She could learn everything about him, every tell and quirk and story, and let him hear hers in return. She could trust and rely on him with everything she had, and knew he could do the same for her. She could make up for every second of the peace she could never really give him by being _there_ for him in every way possible. 

So she did. 

//

Lincoln Campbell was a lot of things. _Peaceful_ was not one of them. 

Since he was very young, he had been driven by the purpose to find… _something._ It settled as a low, constant restlessness deep inside of him and, try as he might, he left a trail of it behind him. 

Throughout his school years, it was there in the long line of straight-As he got, and the line of perfect, teenage-dream girls he dated - but never for more than four, five months at a time. And there were no proud displays of his _Top Student_ certificates on his wall. 

Later on, it was there in med school, when, again, he got only the most exemplary scores in everything, and he even dated another, fantastic, med student - but he got no satisfaction from it. 

His life was perfect, and he should be deliriously happy - but he just _wasn't._

_This wasn't what he was looking for._

Everyone expected him to be this dream guy, without a care in the world. Everyone thought that the girl he dated would be the happiest in the world, and they'd get married with a white picket fence and three children in less than five years.

But that wasn't him. He wasn't perfect. He'd never _felt it,_ the way everyone thought he should. 

And it drove him up all the wrong roads for a while, that frustration - that feeling that nobody _got_ it, nobody would understand that he didn't _want_ to settle down, and find his peace. 

He wanted to find a _purpose,_ to really _help_ people. To stay on his feet, and active, and… _meaning_ something, to someone. 

But there was nobody who would _understand_ that, not even at Afterlife, where they had already helped him understand himself so much better. 

Then he met Daisy Johnson - or, well, he met _Skye._ He helped _her._

But even as he helped her, he got the feeling that she might be able to help him, too - like she might _understand._

And she did. 

Even though he tried to push her away, she stayed, stubbornly showing that she _cared,_ whether he liked it or not. And deeper than that - showing that she _understood_ what it was like to feel that restlessness, that buzzing ache inside. 

She didn't try to push him to be anything he wasn't. 

And in return, he tried to do the same for her - tried to be there for her in every way he possibly could. He tried to be the shoulder she could cry on (or, alternatively, the shoulder she could punch after a particularly bad joke.) He tried to be the person who would notice when something was wrong, and go to her (and fry the living daylights out of whoever was responsible for hurting her.) He tried to be the best partner she could ever have, despite his misgivings about SHIELD (he even agreed to 5am t'ai chi with her practically-mom.) He tried to be _the 1_ for her. 

Because Daisy Johnson was, quite simply, the most incredible person he would ever meet - and this quiet understanding they shared, simple but deeply profound, deeply _real,_ was the most special thing he'd ever get to have. 

He knew he'd never deserve her, not really. (Nobody would.) 

But he'd be damned if he didn't give her his best every single day. 

//

Daisy Johnson and Lincoln Campbell together were a lot of things. _Peaceful_ was not one of them. 

In the field, they were spectacular - working as a team, as _partners,_ as though it was the most natural thing in the world. They covered each other's backs like they didn't even have to think about it, trusting the other would be there without needing to check. 

In their more private lives, they were equally spectacular - knowing they could tell each other anything at all, and knowing they would support each other. It wasn't even a _question_ for them, just a fact. They could count on each other no matter what. 

They fought, too, of course - they were both too reckless and quick-tempered, and it was inevitable that it would blow up in their faces every so often. 

But the thing was, they would _always_ make up somehow, and come back to each other - something which was new to both of them, and something that neither of them had ever thought would be possible. 

Why would it be, after all? Why would anyone want to invest in something if there was no security, no promise of eventual _peace,_ about it? 

But with each other, well… they didn't _need_ to promise peace. 

They just needed to promise _themselves_. 

And while they could never truthfully give the _peace_ promise, they _could_ promise themselves. 

_Oh,_ they could. 

Because in their _most_ private lives, they were perhaps the most spectacular of _all_ \- however, those details were for behind their closed doors, and the long-suffering Mack, who had had the bad luck of not only hearing their first kiss over comms, but also being assigned the room next to Lincoln's on base. 

It was another part of understanding each other so well, and trusting each other so implicitly - there was basically nothing they _couldn't_ do, between the sheets or otherwise. (Mack, to his great chagrin, could confirm this.) 

So, yes - Daisy Johnson and Lincoln Campbell might never be peaceful. 

But honestly? 

Neither of them cared. 

(They were pretty great regardless.) 

**Author's Note:**

> 飞鸿 - Fei Hong, a Chinese name that literally means _a swan goose soaring high in the sky._ When I asked a Chinese friend for advice on choosing a middle name for Daisy (something that Jiaying would pick to honour her nationality) he asked for context and, after some rumination, gave me this, as it expresses a parent’s ardent hope that their child will have a bright future. Which is something Jiaying, I believe, would definitely want for her daughter, especially after what we know about Kora post-s7 💜
> 
> Thanks so much for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed this! May you never be caught without a towel <333


End file.
